Hey everyone and welcome back to our continuing European adventure for 2016. We picked up Normie and headed over to Calais and stayed the night in Dunkirk before crossing through Belgium and hitting Middelburg in the Netherlands. I have to say that following the coastline of Belgium was a lot nicer than when we had previously travelled through the eastern side. The skies were clear but the temps were still in single digits when we got to the little town of Gouda and after purchasing a month’s supply of cheese we headed off for Keukenhof Keukenhof, for those not aware, is home to the annual tulip festival and we were extremely lucky that clear weather coincided with the blooming just as we arrived. Driving around the area the many fields in bloom and yet to be harvested made a colourful sight but attending the show was even better. There is even a parade through all the little towns in the area and though it’s mainly about tulips I’m sure I spotted 1 or 2 little pansies. Our friends Cathy and Heino had told us about the quaint little town of Giethoorn and though the weather had now turned quite wet we managed to […]

When we last spoke Deb & I were relaxing on the beach for a few days. We eventually got motivated to move 70km up the road to Vieste, a great seaside town with many beach resorts that catered for us motorhomers. We set up camp across the road from the first white sandy beach we have seen here and only a 400m walk to town.

Rather than translate the post title, I'll just let you know that in Australia we have the same phrase, 'doing SFA', though it does sound a little more sophisticated in Italian. Just like 'happy hour' is referred to as 'Aperitivo' it all means "sitting around doing nothing" which is the favourite summer pastime of both countries, and as if we needed any encouragement, Deb has acquired a taste for Prosecco and for me, Campari.

We spent an afternoon walking around Pisa taking in the sights but apart from the main piazza there is little else to attract.
Florence on the other hand took a 3 day visit and even though the temps were in the 30s we enjoyed the many piazzas, galleries & museums.

We scrambled down from the Alps and arrived in Venice just in time for lunch. So nice to see friendly faces on the far side of the world.
The 4 of us had a wonderful sunny afternoon taking in the sights of Piazza San Marco and around the Rialto bridge but late in the afternoon the heavens opened up and we got drenched. Fortunately, the storm didn't last long and when we emerged for dinner Venice was cooler but cleaner.

A quick stop at the Bürstner head office (Normie needed a small part) then it was onto Triberg in the Black Forest.
A cute little tourist town with many woodworking shops selling all manner of trinkets.

I fear there are going to be fewer posts this year as a blog of any type is a beast that must be fed regularly and let's face it, how many pictures of cake, castles, churches & cathedrals can anyone take. So with this in mind please join Ralph (the trans-gender GPS), Norman (the self-trimming motorhome), Deb (the automatic missed turn & speeding alarm) & myself (the wind generator) for our trek through central Europe.